Tag: Judas

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Matthew Devotionals

What God didn’t do

“I have sinned by betraying innocent blood,” he said.

“What’s that to us?” they said. “See to it yourself!” (Matthew 27:4)

The amazing thing to me about God is he did not respond to us as the priests responded to Judas.

When we came to God in our guilt and shame, he didn’t say, “What is that to me? See to it yourself.”

Had he done so, we would have been left in despair and death as Judas was.

But instead, God sent his Son.

…he was pierced because of our rebellion,
crushed because of our iniquities;
punishment for our peace was on him,
and we are healed by his wounds.

We all went astray like sheep;
we all have turned to our own way;
and the Lord has punished him
for the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:5-6)

I’ll never know why you did what you did.
You didn’t have to die, but you did.

You hung on the cross so that I wouldn’t be lost.
You took my place, now you’re pleading my case.

You didn’t have to do it, but I’m glad you did.
You didn’t have to do it, but I’m glad you did.

Crystal Lewis
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Matthew Devotionals

Our place in the story

Matthew

“Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

Then one of the Twelve, the man called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?”

So they weighed out thirty pieces of silver for him. And from that time he started looking for a good opportunity to betray him. (Matthew 26:13-16)

As I read those words, it struck me that not only is Mary (sister of Lazarus and Martha, John 12:1-8) and her deed remembered, but so is Judas and his deeds.

Mary is remembered for her love for Jesus.

Judas is remembered for betraying him.

And it made me think, “What is my place in the gospel story? What is my place in this story that started in the garden of Eden and has stretched out until the present day?

“How will I be remembered when I’m gone? What stories will be told of me?”

And then I thought of Peter. He too is remembered.

He is often remembered for his great failure, for denying Jesus three times.

But he is also remembered as one who came to know God’s grace.

And really, that is what the gospel is all about. It’s all about God’s grace. It’s about the body that was broken and the blood that was poured out there on the cross so that our sins could be forgiven.

So many of us look at our own sin and brokenness and it depresses us.

But like Mary, like Peter, we are recipients of God’s great love and grace.

That’s our part in this gospel story God is writing.

Let us rejoice in it!

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Mark Devotionals

Valuing Jesus. Valued by Jesus.

As I read this chapter, I marvel at Mary, sister of Lazarus and Martha. (See John 12:1-8.)

She valued Jesus so much, she was willing to sacrifice some very costly perfume in order to honor Jesus. It makes me think: “How much do I value Jesus?”

Am I like Mary?

Or am I like Judas, who professes love for Jesus, and yet betrays him with my actions?

Or am I like Peter, who professes love for Jesus, but can’t even stay awake for him?

But don’t miss something else in this passage.

Jesus values us, even in our weakness.

Knowing that his disciples that would run from him in his time of trial, and that Peter would deny even knowing him, Jesus nevertheless broke bread at dinner and said, “Take it. This is my body.”

Then he took a cup and gave it to them, and said, “This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many.” (Mark 14:22-24)

That’s how much Jesus values us, weak and fragile as we are. He gave his life for us.

And it was no light sacrifice either. He agonized over it, pleading with the Father, “Take this cup from me! I don’t want to go to the cross!”

But in the end, he did so. Why? Because he valued us so much.

Let us value Jesus each day as Mary did. But just as importantly, never forget how much he values us.

As John says,

We love because he first loved us. (I John 4:19)

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Acts

The One who knows our hearts

Acts

In this passage, we see the choosing of Matthias to take Judas’ place as one of the 12. A couple of minor points before I get to my main point.

Some people think that Peter and the other apostles made a mistake in appointing Matthias as the one to replace Judas.

They say that Paul should have been the one who took Judas’ place, and that Jesus in appearing to Paul and appointing him as an apostle had, in effect, appointed him as the one to take Judas’ place.

I used to think that, but now I’m not so sure. In particular, because Paul himself recognized Matthias’ position as one of the 12 in 1 Corinthians 15:5.

He hardly could have meant the resurrected Jesus appeared to Judas when Judas was already dead. So he must have meant Matthias.

Paul also said of himself that he was the least of the apostles and was not even fit to be called an apostle (although he clearly was one). (1 Corinthians 15:9)

The second point is on Judas’ death.

Matthew 27 says that the chief priests took the money that Judas had scattered before them and bought a field while Judas went and hung himself.

However, here in Acts, it says that Judas bought the field, and that he plunged headlong and his body burst open. How do we reconcile the two?

Apparently, Judas had hung himself on a cliff over the valley of Hinnom, and perhaps some time later, after his body had started to decompose, the rope snapped or was cut and his body fell headlong into a field in that valley.

Perhaps having heard what had happened, the priests then bought the field in Judas’ name, as it really wasn’t “temple money.” (Matthew 27:6)

Now on to the main point. It’s very interesting that the other apostles talked about how Judas had shared in their ministry.

There can be little doubt that he had preached the good news of the kingdom, cast out demons, and healed the sick as Jesus had commanded them on their two mission trips throughout Israel (Luke 9-10).

Yet even then, Jesus knew his heart. That though Judas did all these things, his heart was not truly with Jesus. And the time came when Judas was exposed and ultimately cast out from his position.

He was then replaced by another whose heart was right before God.

I suppose what I’m trying to say is that for those of us in ministry, we really need to search our hearts every day. To search our motives. To see if our hearts are truly His.

We can do many things in Jesus’ name. People can even get saved in our ministry. But God knows our hearts. And if our hearts are not right before him, the time will come when we will be cast out from our position and be replaced.

Even worse would be if the day came when we stand before Jesus and say,

Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? (Matthew 7:22)

But Jesus looks at us, and says,

I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers! (Matthew 7:23)

Where is your heart? Have you truly given your heart to Jesus? Or are you just playing a role?

If you are simply playing a role, whether you’re a Christian or not, eventually your position will be taken from you as it was taken from Judas. And it will be given to someone whose heart belongs to Christ.

Who does your heart belong to?

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Matthew Matthew 27

A sorrow that leads to death

Matthew

Here we see the end of Judas Iscariot’s life.

Upon seeing that Jesus had been condemned to death, he became remorseful, and went to the priests and elders saying,

I have sinned…for I have betrayed innocent blood. (Matthew 27:4)

He even tried to return the money, but when the priests and elders refused to take it, he threw it into the temple and went and hung himself.

The apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 7 talks about two kinds of sorrow. Paul tells us,

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret. (2 Corinthians 7:10a)

This is the kind of sorrow that we eventually see in Peter. Devastated as he was by his failure in denying Jesus three times, he nevertheless repented, and was eventually restored.

Judas, on the other hand, never did repent.

Certainly he was sorry for the results of his actions. But instead of coming before God for forgiveness, he killed himself.

Paul calls this kind of sorrow, “a worldly sorrow that leads to death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10b)

Unfortunately, far too many people have Judas’ kind of sorrow.

They see the damage that they have done through their actions. But they see no hope for forgiveness. They think that what they’ve done is just too awful for even God to forgive.

The question is, what are we doing about it?

The people that should have helped Judas find the forgiveness of God, the priests, were of no help.

They basically said, “What’s your sorrow to us? If you think you’ve done something wrong, that’s your responsibility. Don’t come crying to us about it.”

The priests, of course, were too hardened by their own sin to be of any help. To have helped Judas would of course have meant recognizing their own sin. And they weren’t about to do that.

What’s so ironic is that they felt they couldn’t put the money back in the treasury from where it came because it was “blood money.”

Obviously, somewhere deep inside, they knew they were wrong.

But getting back to the point, as God’s priests, we should be helping people who are sorrowful for the mess they’ve made of their lives.

Are we doing that? Are we letting people know that God’s grace is there for them if they’ll just repent?

Or are we happy they are suffering? Are we saying, “That’s your responsibility. You’re reaping what you sowed. So don’t ask me to come help bail you out.”

Jesus had every right to do that to Peter. For that matter, he had every right to do that to each disciple that abandoned him.

Instead, he showed them grace. He showed them God’s forgiveness. That led to their repentance and completely changed their lives.

That’s what Jesus calls us to do for others. Are you?

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John John 12 Mark Mark 14 Matthew Matthew 26

True love, false love

The gospels

Here we see a stark contrast in love. One person’s love came from the heart. The other’s came only for what profited him.

Jesus was in Bethany having dinner at the house of a man named Simon. Lazarus, Mary, and Martha were all there, as were Jesus’ disciples.

And at the meal, Mary took some expensive perfume and poured it on Jesus’ feet and on his head.

Judas’ reaction was immediate.

Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages. (John 12:5)

And apparently, the other disciples chimed in with Judas.

John tells us, however, that Judas’ love and concern for the poor was not genuine. Instead,

He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. (John 12:6)

But of Mary, Jesus said,

Leave her alone… Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.

The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me.

She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.

I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her. (Mark 14:6-9)

Judas’ reaction? He went to the chief priests and betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.

We will always wonder why Judas decided to do this, but I don’t think it was simply because Jesus rebuked him in front of the disciples.

I think it went much deeper than that: His love for Jesus (and for others) apparently didn’t go much further than what it benefited him.

As treasurer among the disciples, he was happy to give to the poor as long as he could help himself to some of the money himself. And as a disciple, he was happy to follow Jesus as long as it seemed Jesus would become king.

But time and again, Jesus talked not about ruling as Messiah, but of his death. Perhaps frustrated and fed up with this, Judas thought, “Fine, if you want to die, die.”

And he went to betray him.

Mary’s love, on the other hand, came from her heart. And unlike Judas, who followed Jesus for what he could get, she loved Jesus enough to give him what was precious to her.

I love what John said about what happened when she opened the bottle of perfume. He said,

The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. (John 12:3)

And that’s what our love for Jesus and others should be like. It should permeate the world around us. It should be so evident, that no one can miss it. Some people, like Judas, will criticize us for it. But to Jesus, it’s a sweet-smelling aroma.

How about you? Is your love selfish, only interested in what you can gain? Or is it a sweet-smelling aroma to Jesus and the world around you?

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Luke Luke 9 Mark Mark 6 Matthew Matthew 10

A tare in the wheatfield

The gospels

As I look at this passage, for some reason, Judas sticks out to me.

Jesus called his 12 disciples to go out and minister to the people of Israel. Look at what he did. He gave them the authority to drive out demons, he gave them the ability to cure diseases, and he sent them out preaching the kingdom of God.

And as Matthew lists all the disciples, he notes last of all, “Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.” (Matthew 12:4)

Judas drove out demons. Judas healed sick people. Judas went out and preached the kingdom of God. And yet, he would later betray Jesus.

How could that happen? It’s hard to fathom. But I think he is the perfect example of the tare in the wheatfield that Jesus talked about in Matthew 13.

The thing about tares is that they look very similar to wheat. So if a farmer were to try to pull out the tares from the wheat, many times he would end up pulling out the wheat by accident.

That’s why the farmer in the story said to leave them until harvest time, and at that time, he would separate the wheat from the tares.

Judas, like the tare, looked like a believer. He learned with the other disciples. He cast out demons like the others. He healed the sick like the other disciples. And he preached the kingdom like the others. But in his heart, he never truly gave his life to Jesus.

My guess is that he looked only for what a relationship with Jesus could give him. And when he saw that Jesus’ vision was different from his own, and that he would not get from Jesus what he sought, he turned on him and betrayed him.

Many people are like that today. They look like Christians. They sound like Christians. They may even be involved in ministry. But they’ve never truly given their hearts to Jesus.

How about you? Have you given your life to Jesus? Is your life truly his? Or are you like Judas, simply the tare in the wheatfield.

Don’t pretend. You can fool others, your pastor and the people at church. But you can’t fool God. And the day will come when you will be seen for what you really are.

Don’t be that tare. Truly give your life to him. To merely play the Christian will only leave you empty, and result in judgment and death.